Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Child Abuse Negl. 2022 Sep;131:105780. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105780. Epub 2022 Jul 6.
Child sexual abuse (CSA) has been acknowledged as predisposing survivors to an increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempts. Despite this risk being widely recognized, the study of suicidality has mainly focused on psychopathology, while less attention has been given to survivors' experiences and perceptions.
This study aims to uncover the experiences and perceptions of suicidality among adult CSA survivors.
The sample consisted of 41 adult CSA survivors' written narratives of abuse that included references to suicide.
Written narratives of CSA experiences were collected from 41 adult participants as part of the Israeli Independent Public Inquiry on CSA to change public policy. An inductive thematic analysis guided the exploration of the stories.
The findings portrayed several main themes regarding the survivors' experiences before, during and after suicidal thoughts and behaviors. These themes elucidated their motivations leading to suicidal attempts, including the wish to end one's self and suffering, self-blame, communicate the abuse and the request for recognition. Additionally, the survivors' stories illuminated their experiences following the suicidal attempts, depicting inadequate treatment and difficulties with the psychiatric labeling of a mental health disorder.
The findings of this study uncover new insights regarding the link between trauma, posttraumatic suffering, and suicidality within a social interaction context. Furthermore, these findings call medical and psychosocial health practitioners to view post-CSA suffering as trauma-related rather than personal psychopathology and to adjust practices to adapt to survivors' experiences and needs.
儿童性虐待（CSA）已被认为使幸存者更容易产生自杀意念和尝试自杀的风险。尽管这种风险已被广泛认识，但自杀问题的研究主要集中在精神病理学上，而对幸存者的经历和看法关注较少。
本研究旨在揭示成年 CSA 幸存者的自杀意念和行为的经历和看法。
该样本由 41 名成年 CSA 幸存者的虐待书面叙述组成，其中包括自杀的相关内容。
作为改变公共政策的以色列 CSA 独立公共调查的一部分，从 41 名成年参与者那里收集了 CSA 经历的书面叙述。采用归纳主题分析方法来探索这些故事。
研究结果描绘了幸存者在自杀想法和行为之前、期间和之后的经历中的几个主要主题。这些主题阐明了他们自杀尝试的动机，包括结束自己的生命和痛苦、自责、表达虐待和寻求认可的愿望。此外，幸存者的故事还描述了他们在自杀尝试后的经历，包括治疗不足和精神科对心理健康障碍的标签问题。
本研究的结果揭示了在社会互动背景下创伤、创伤后痛苦和自杀意念之间的联系的新见解。此外，这些发现呼吁医疗和心理社会健康从业者将 CSA 后遭受的痛苦视为与创伤相关，而不是个人的精神病理学，并调整实践以适应幸存者的经历和需求。
